Klarna, a well-known Swedish startup, raised $ 1 billion during recent funding round. The startup’s valuation has exceeded $ 31 billion. This means that the company retains the title of the most expensive fintech in Europe.
Representatives of Klarna previously stated that the shortlist of proposals exceeded 4 times the required investment volume. This is likely due to reports that the company is considering an IPO in the foreseeable future. For investors, the benchmark for valuation was Affirm (19 billion), the direct and main competitor of Klarna from the United States.
Klarna is the founder of the Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) concept. Klarna allows consumers to buy things online without paying for them in advance. This is achieved both through the integration with the online stores, where Klarna appears as an option at checkout and through its own application, where users can view all stores where they can pay for purchases using Klarna.
With the help of the attracted investments, the company hopes to launch new financial services for its users and become a bank. A number of licensed banking services are already offered, such as savings accounts in Sweden and Germany, as well as in several other European countries.
In terms of the viability of the BNPL concept, Klarna operates in over 17 countries and has over 250,000 retail partners including Macy’s, H&M, Ikea, Expedia Group, Samsung, ASOS, Peloton, Abercrombie & Fitch, Nike and AliExpress.
Klarna — startup was founded in 2005 in Sweden. Received investments from Sequoia Capital in 2010. Recent investors include Dragoneer, Bestseller Group, Permira, Visa, Atomico, Ant Group, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Silver Lake, HMI Capital, TCV, Northzone, GIC (Singapore’s Sovereign Wealth fund), and BlackRock.